As Inara and I were taking our evening constitutional tonight, we had the pleasure of encountering an off-leash dog. Looked like a little Norwich Terrier thing. Unfortunately I didn't notice it until it was about 10' away since it was dark out. I saw it making a beeline for us, hollered an un-lady-like word while grabbing Inara's flat collar (she was on her prong and I didn't want her to associate getting pinched with the dog) but then very calmly told Inara to sit. She kind of crouched halfway into a sit while I held onto her collar. The dog came charging up and shoved his nose into Inara's butt. She froze while I maintained my deathgrip on her collar. I used my mad ninja skillz and kicked at the dog (intentionally missing - I just wanted to scare it, not hurt it) and growled at it to go home. It skittered away about 10' and started barking at us. I calmly told Inara to sit again and she actually did so, though every muscle in her body was tensed and quivering. As soon as her butt hit the ground I cheerfully said "let's go!" and gently tugged her away from the dog. She had a great deal of trouble with this and kept looking back, but she didn't bark or whine or anything. As soon as she managed to take a few steps without looking back, she did a great big shake-off and we had a party. I cheered and jumped around and told her what a fantastically smart dog she was. It was awesome.

My dog didn't react to another dog (a small one, at that!) charging up and shoving his nose into her butt! Holy crap! I mean seriously, HOLY CRAP!!!

"Remember - every time your dog gets somewhere on a tight leash *a fairy dies and it's all your fault.* Think of the fairies." http://www.positivepetzine.com"